TAUNTON — For two Taunton-based mutual banks the old saw “charity begins at home” is more than a simple cliche.

The CEOs of both Mechanics Cooperative Savings Bank and Bristol County Savings Bank said allocating a portion of earnings to charitable causes has become part of the fabric of doing business.

“It’s been part of our culture since Day 1,” said Patrick J. Murray Jr., president and chief executive of Bristol County Savings Bank.

A mutual savings bank, unlike a commercial bank, is owned by its members/depositors and doesn’t have to answer to stockholders.

Patrick, who has been with BCSB for 29 years, said the key to longevity in terms of sizable donations can be attributed to the bank’s charitable foundation.

Founded in 1996 by former bank President E. Dennis Kelly — who, although retired, continues to serve as chairman of the foundation’s nine-person board — Murray said the BCSB foundation to date has donated $12.6 million to local charitable causes.

He said the foundation accounted for $1.26 million in charitable giving in fiscal 2013, while the bank itself donated $76,000. In the first year of the foundation’s existence, it managed to donate all of $71,000, Murray said.

The advantage of a charitable foundation, he said, is its ability to withstand a downturn in the national economy.

Although BCSB has expanded into new markets during the past decade — including Fall River and New Bedford — and continues to see an annual profit of $10 million, Murray described earnings since the Great Recession of 2008 as “relatively flat.”

But because the charitable foundation continues to reinvest in itself, Murray said grant money remains available to those causes and nonprofit groups the bank deems worthy of its largesse. The foundation’s investment portfolio is split fairly evenly between stocks and bonds, he added.

Murray said the bank’s 15-member board has always endorsed the charitable foundation’s policy and philosophy.

As the bank expands into new municipalities, Murray said the number of requests from organizations and charitable causes seeking financial assistance also ratchets up.

Michele Roberts, an executive vice president and the bank’s community relations officer, said Bristol County Savings and its charitable foundation have three “areas of focus,” or “buckets,” when it comes to determining who receives grant donations.

She identified them as education and literacy, economic development and housing, particularly for moderate- to low-income residents.

Among Taunton-based projects, the bank in fiscal 2013 gave $25,000 to Taunton High School’s culinary arts program for a student-run restaurant to be called Tiger Tent Cafe; $12,500 to Downtown Taunton Foundation to transform the former district court building into an arts and performance center; $35,000 to Coyle and Cassidy High School; $18,400 to the city’s Boys and Girls Club; and $17,520 to Taunton Area School to Career.

Page 2 of 3 - Murray and Roberts said they were impressed with Taunton High’s emphasis on providing culinary careers to students who otherwise might be at risk for dropping out of school.

BCSB has 16 branches, including one in Pawtucket, R.I., and assets of $1.5 billion, according to Murray.

Mechanics Cooperative Savings Bank, which has eight branches and total assets of $435 million, doesn’t have the security of a charitable foundation to maintain donation levels.

President and CEO Joseph T. Baptista said his mutual savings bank each year donates 10 percent of net income — a pledge, he said, that was established three years ago. He said the bank donated $290,000 to worthy causes in fiscal 2013.

Mechanics, which dates back to 1877, in recent years has expanded to Bridgewater and Fall River because of mergers with Lafayette Federal Savings Bank and Bridgewater Cooperative Bank.

Baptista, who has been with Mechanics for 17 years and has been its CEO the past seven, said the bank donates to the Boys and Girls Clubs in both Fall River and Taunton. It also donates to St. Vincent’s Children’s Treatment residential facility in Fall River.

The bank, he said, has pledged $90,000, spread out over three years, for new seats in Taunton High School’s auditorium.

Baptista said nonprofits, in particular, are still reeling from the recession, which is why the bank donates to United Way and Taunton’s Old Colony YMCA.

But he said he and his donation committee have a soft spot for organizations that deal with deadly diseases, such as cancer. Baptista said the bank has committed itself over five years to donate $300,000 to Southcoast Centers for Cancer Care in Fairhaven. He said he wants to further the advancement of top-shelf medical care and treatment in the southeastern region so cancer patients don’t feel as though they have to trek back and forth to a Boston hospital.

Baptista said roughly half of the groups and organizations who apply for a grant donation from the bank actually qualify.

“You’d like to say yes to every single one, but unfortunately that can’t be the case,” he said.

Baptista said he’s especially fond of a mentor program known as SMILES, offered in Fall River and New Bedford by nonprofit People, Incorporated. He said he’s optimistic the program eventually will be offered in Taunton.

Banks, he said, also have to be cognizant of the rules of the federal government’s Community Reinvestment Act, established in 1977 as a means of eliminating loan discrimination to low-income earners and minority groups.

Baptista said a bank that fails a CRA exam, which measures a bank’s commitment to its service communities, can impede branch expansion.

Page 3 of 3 - BCSB’s Murray said the CRA began with good intentions, but over time became a policy that pressured banks to provide loans to first-time home buyers lacking the financial wherewithal to take on the responsibility of a large mortgage payment — culminating in the bursting of the sub-prime loan housing bubble in the late 2000s.

“It was perfect at first, a no-brainer. But then it morphed into what they thought was supposed to be the American Dream,” he said.

But Murray said he doesn’t feel pressured by the CRA. He says BCSB would contribute money to its host communities regardless of the exams.

He also said BCSB employees not only have responded to the bank’s encouragement to donate whatever money they can personally afford, but also to participate in local causes and become board members of charities and nonprofits.

And Murray said he doesn’t mind taking a bow knowing that the $154,000 donated by last year by BCSB to the Attleboro/Taunton United Way campaign ranked fourth behind Sensata Technologies, General Dynamics and Johnson & Johnson.

That amount, he noted, was evenly split between corporate giving and personal donations provided by 225 of 255 bank employees working in those cities.

Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. said there’s long been a tradition of homegrown businesses in Taunton giving back to the community.

In addition to the city’s two hometown banks and Taunton Federal Credit Union, Hoye pointed out that businesses — such as G. Lopes Construction, Mozzone Lumber and B&D Construction — have a history of donating manpower and services for special events and construction projects.

He also gave kudos to Jordan’s Furniture, whose corporate office and distribution center is in East Taunton, for their past generosity.

“We’re very fortunate to have so many charitable and giving people in the city. It’s a great thing,” he said.